Fig 1.
Typical tropical seascapes found in Belize.
A) Map of Belize showing the location of coral reefs, seagrass meadows and mangrove forests. Yellow stars indicate the location of profiles measured by Burke [26]; the red star indicates the “Colson” profile used herein. The thin black lines represent the locations of the two profiles (Dangriga and Turneffe Atoll) approximated in this analysis. B) Typical schematic of the Belizean seascape.
Fig 2.
Idealized bathymetric profiles of fringing and barrier reefs.
Table 1.
Categorization of habitat and forcing scenarios for two tropical seascapes (fringing reef and barrier reef).
Table 2.
Non-Storm Wave Statistics Offshore of Belize.
Fig 3.
Locations of output metrics computation.
Metrics are computed during non-storm and storm conditions at similar locations in both profiles. Locations are approximate.
Table 3.
Summary of non-storm wave climate statistics in the lagoon for different reef conditions.
Fig 4.
Wave distribution in the lagoon for different reef health conditions.
“No Coral–Present” data were computed assuming a smooth and dead reef. Note that we represented the distribution of waves for live and dead corals under present conditions by dots in order to improve readability.
Fig 5.
Relative importance of breaking and frictional dissipation over the coral reef.
Profiles of wave height (top subplot), breaking dissipation (second subplot), frictional dissipation (third subplot) over the coral reef profile (bottom subplot), for the maximum offshore wave height (left) and mean wave height (right), for different combination of coral presence and absence. “No Coral–Present” data were computed assuming a smooth and dead reef.
Fig 6.
Protective role of corals and seagrasses during non-storm conditions under present conditions.
Bar plots of average values of wave height (top subplots) and bed shear stress (bottom subplots) computed for different combinations of live reef and seagrass meadows present under present sea-level conditions. The dashed horizontal line in the bottom subplot represents the critical shear stress for sand motion. Vertical tick marks indicate 1 standard deviation value around the mean. Circles represent minimum and maximum values. See S3 Fig for box plot version of this figure and analogous results for future sea-level rise scenario.
Fig 7.
Protective role of corals, seagrasses and mangroves during non-storm conditions under present sea-level conditions.
Bar plot of average wave height at the shoreward edge of the submerged mangrove forest (top subplots) and bed scour volume over the submerged mangrove forest (bottom subplots) computed for different combinations of live reef, seagrass meadows and mangroves presence, under present sea-level conditions. Vertical tick marks indicate 1 standard deviation value around the mean. Circles represent minimum and maximum values. See S5 Fig for box plot version of this figure for a future sea-level rise scenario.
Fig 8.
Moderating effects of natural habitats on storm surge and waves.
Profiles of surge (top subplots), wave height (middle subplots) and bathymetry, with habitats (bottom subplot) in the fringing and barrier reef profiles during the synthetic hurricane. Profiles of wave height in the absence of wind are shown to illustrate the extent of wave re-generation that occurs in the lagoons.
Fig 9.
Protective role of corals, seagrasses and mangroves during storm conditions.
Coastal protection services provided by coral reefs, seagrass beds and mangroves, under present day sea-level conditions, for various combinations of live and dead habitats during a hurricane. Patterns are the same for the future sea-level rise scenario (S6 Fig).